Michael Bower

The 2010 election results have made history for the Alliance Party with our vote share across Northern Ireland rising by over 60% since 2005.  Alliance Youth are proud to have played a critical role in this success, not just on the doorsteps but also on the ballot paper, demonstrating Alliance’s commitment to giving young people a central role in shaping their future.

Alliance Youth member, and former chair, Michael Bower demonstrated that West Tyrone has a growing appetite for non-tribal politics after securing the best ever Alliance Westminster results in the constituency. This success paves the way for future successes in coming Assembly and Council elections.  This is also a remarkable achievement considering Alliance has not fielded a Westminster candidate in the constituency since 1997.

Jonathan Simpson

Meanwhile, Alliance Youth is delighted with the success of Secretary Jonny Simpson who more than doubled our vote in Castlereagh having secured an astounding 26% of first preference votes in the by-election.  Delighted with the results Jonny thanked his supporters explaining

This was a brilliant day for Alliance – we showed that Alliance is a credible and positive alternative in Castlereagh

If you want to get involved in playing a part in building a shared future in Northern Ireland we would love to hear from you!

youth@allianceparty.org

The Alliance Party has selected Jonathan Simpson as their candidate in the forth-coming by-election the Castlereagh East constituency. The seat was vacated by the resignation of Iris Robinson from Castlereagh Borough Council.
Jonathan Simpson (23) currently works as a political assistant to Alliance Party Leader, David Ford MLA. He previously worked as a constituency assistant for Naomi Long MLA in the East Belfast Alliance Constituency Office and is also currently Secretary of Alliance Youth. A resident of Castlereagh, he attended Grosvenor before studying law at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Jonathan Simpson said:

“I am extremely pleased to have been selected for Alliance to run in the forthcoming by-election in Castlereagh East.

“It is important that the public have the opportunity to have their say on recent events. People are understandably very disillusioned with politics at moment and I believe that every elected representative has a duty to do all they can to restore public faith in politics.

“People want to see delivery on key issues that affect their everyday lives like planning, provision of leisure facilities, creating a safer community and protecting the environment, instead of stale sectarian politics.

“This election is a real opportunity to shift the balance of power in Castlereagh and I hope that the people in Castlereagh East will help us deliver that change by electing me on May 6th.”

“In Castlereagh, only Alliance has consistently stood up for fairness, openness, transparency and accountability and if the people of Castlereagh give me their support, I will be joining a strong Alliance team focussed on delivering on local issues and guided by those values.

Follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook or read his blog here.

The 2010 Alliance Party Conference took place on 23^rd January and was very well attended, especially by members of Alliance Youth.

Among the motions discussed was one by Alliance Youth.

Conference notes that the UK government has on a number of occasions over-ruled its own medical and professional advice to retain a more punitive drugs policy. Conference condemns the emotionalism and hysteria, generated by both politicians and the media, which has too often characterised the debate on drugs policy. Conference calls for a new Northern Ireland drugs strategy, based on evidence rather than fear.

In proposing the motion, David Murphy from QUB Alliance said

The House of Commons select committee on Science and Technology has “expressed concern at the Government’s proclivity for using the classification system as a means of ‘sending out signals’” They went on to say that using the drug classification system like this “is at odds with the stated objective of classifying drugs on the basis of harm”. The government needs to realise that policy is made based on the evidence, not the other way round.

The motion was seconded by Graham Scobie who referred a number of the social aspects of drugs policy.

The motion was passed overwhelmingly following a short debate.

ENDS

>???????? ???????????ance Youth Chair Conrad Dickson has criticized comments by the Employment and Learning Minister Sir Reg Empey that some young people not in employment, education or training were like ‘vampires’ as they get up late and stay up all night. He said Sir Reg Empey should apologise for his remarks.

Conrad Dickson said: “These comments by Sir Reg Empey clearly show how out of touch he is with young people today. What he said was a disgrace and he should apologise for his remarks..

“This was obviously Sir Reg’s attempt to look tough but it has backfired and embarrassed him.

“It’s ok for him to sit in his ministerial ivory tower and hurl insults at young people but he does not understand the realities of what it is like to leave education, only to face months or years of looking for a job.

“We all suspected that the Ulster Unionists and UCUNF are out of touch, and these comments confirm this.”

Alliance Youth is holding a petition at Queen’s University Freshers’ Fair tomorrow as part of its ongoing campaign to tackle racism in our society. Chair of Alliance Youth Conrad Dixon has said it is vitally important that young people have a voice and he said that the petition calls for the First and Deputy First Minister to bring forward the Cohesion, Sharing and Integration strategy urgently. Amongst others, David Ford and Anna Lo will be attending Freshers’ Fair.

Conrad Dixon said: “This petition gives students at Queen’s University the chance to shout with one clear voice that racism must be stopped.

“We need action form the First and Deputy First Minister to introduce the measures necessary to tackle prejudice in our society. It is a disgrace that after the events involving the intimidation of Romanian families, this vital new strategy to crack down on racism and sectarianism in Northern Ireland has not yet been produced.

“I am hoping for an excellent response to our petition. We need to show young people that politics can work and that they should get involved if they want to make changes that impact positively on people’s everyday lives.”

“Our petition can also be signed online here.